VMware Lures Away Citrix Cloud Talent

VMware (VMW) has snagged two Citrix (CTXS) employees who have had their heads in the clouds. Sanjay Poonen, executive vice president and general manager of End User Computing at VMware, announced in a blog post that VMware had hired Bob Schultz, formerly group vice president and general manager of Desktop and Applications at Citrix, and Sumit Dhawan, formerly group vice president and general manager of Enterprise Mobility at Citrix.

Both Schultz and Dhawan easily can be considered two of the top minds involved in cloud computing at Citrix, so it’s a big deal for VMware, as well as for Citrix. And just when Citrix and VMware seemed to be playing so nice together, too. Citrix even attended VMworld last year—something that would have been thought highly improbable not all that long ago.

Schultz joins VMware in the new role of chief strategy lead for End User Computing. He’ll take on the responsibility of driving VMware’s business, technology and alliance strategies. Schultz has more than 30 years in the business.

Dhawan joins VMware to lead the Desktop Business and Organization, where he will be responsible for the overall business, including strategy, product portfolio and engineering. Dhawan is a Citrix veteran, having spent 16 years of career at the vendor before moving to VMware.

The new hires, as well as the promotion of VMware’s Kit Colbert to CTO for End User Computing, will play prominently in VMware’s desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) play.

VMware made a huge stride forward in the DaaS market in October when it acquired Desktone. VMware is pairing Desktone’s multitenant desktop virtualization platform with its own Horizon View desktop virtualization technology.

With the technology in place to push ahead in the growing DaaS market, now it looks as though VMware has put together the team it wants to further develop its strategy and compete against others in the space.